Extra Life – Play Games, Heal Kids

Get your fridge loaded with energy drinks and join us for Extra Life 2010!

Playing video games is a great hobby, but I’d be hard pressed to list very many tangible benefits that gaming for 24 hours straight can give you. That is unless you are planning this gaming marathon to participate in one of the most exciting, rewarding, and altruistic events in video games: Extra Life.

Tori Enmon continues to inspire

Extra Life is an annual event that was started in 2008 by the founders of Sarcasticgamer.com. It started as a way to honor the memory of a young girl named Victoria Enmon, or Tori for short. Tori was a big video game fan that was suffering through a tough battle with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. When the SG Community learned of her illness, they began sending her games, letters, flowers, and anything else they thought would help cheer her up. Sadly, Tori lost her battle with A.L.L. in January of 2008, but the owners of SG weren’t willing to forget her. In October of 2008 they kicked off the very first Extra Life event in which 100’s of websites and 1000’s of gamers got together to raise money for the Children’s Miracle Network, but the way they did it was what made Extra Life famous.

Most of us have either participated in or donated to a marathon at some point. These usually involve a physical feat like jogging, cycling, swimming, or something similar. While it would be asking a lot for a community of gamers to participate in a physical challenge like those, there’s no rule book saying marathons can only be done by straining your muscles. Doc from Sarcastic Gamer had the inspiration to challenge his friends and community to participate in a 24 hour long video game marathon! By collecting money from friends and family to sponsor the gamers, Extra Life was able to collect more than $300,000 since it began. Now, as Extra Life 2010 approaches, the event is on pace to do better then ever.

Extra Life founders

One of the major changes to Extra Life this year is that the money collected will not be sent to just one hospital. Instead, gamers from around the world will be able to participate knowing the money they collected will be given directly to their LOCAL Children’s Miracle Network affiliate! This has helped to create an opportunity for many different communities in various different places to get together, knowing they are helping their neighbors with every dollar earned!

It couldn’t be much easier to get started. Simply head over to http://extralife.sarcasticgamer.com/wp/ and register to play. Then contact as many friends and family as you can and ask them to donate to your page. Donations are taken securely, and all proceeds go to help heal kids. Is there any better use for money then healing kids? I can’t think of any.

Don’t delay! Get started today. Extra Life 2010 kicks off on October 16th, which will be here before you know it! The Talkingship Community will be taking part in force. Sign up and get online with us to play some games and heal some kids!